Friday, October 11, 2013

We made it to America, but I don't yet have much to show for it digitally. Jet lag was kind enough to us, but moving our poor son around the world right after he turned two seems to have activated the terrible component of the age. There was a week of near constant screaming. I liken it to being hazed during hell week. I will mark it in his baby book as such. But he did end our time in Florida with a few sweet days, good guy. We kept trying to find "new kids" for him to play with. We kept failing. He was the only kid in the nursery at church, the only kid in the food court, the only kid trying to get into the play area at the mall that was closed for cleaning the one day we planned on going. "New kids?" is now how he implores us to find him suitable playmates, none so suitable as my mother. They wiled their weekend days away with muddy toes and dirt bombs, sidewalk chalk and water balloons. They took morning walks to work where Joash would sit in my dad's office and play with complimentary toy-sized tow trucks, watch Cars on my mom's tablet, and point out the endless trucks rumbling their way to the Walmart warehouse center down the road. There was even a golf ball dropping game going on yesterday before we left for Cincinnati.

And the little girl. I've watched Ammi become sweeter as the days go by. She cries less and less (except today apparently), a sometimes daintier, girlier cry than Joah's was, though car seats remain her holdout. She will not fall asleep unaided in a car and is a very dedicated screamer when she wants to be. She has already pooped the pants of almost everyone in my family. I'm blessed with such expert poopers. Oh, and at two months old she weighs 14 pounds, a feat that took her brother the better part of a year to accomplish.

Grandparents are everything I imagined them to be from my secluded tower in Seoul. Watching my son find new favorite people in some of my favorite people was wonderful. He became my dad's NASCAR buddy and my mom's keen playmate. And Ammi has won everyone over with her chubby little head and favored Moro reflex. Sharing the task of keeping her in arms all day completely disseminates the stress of it. And we are only halfway through our grandparent accrual. Dan's mom has already snuggled with the sister, and she will soon enough be busting with the brother when he and his dad arrive later today with our van full of stuff.

All of it feels so lucky. I'm trying to savor it before the charm dissolves into normalcy.


Ammi Smiles from serenity johnson on Vimeo.
The sweet.


No Pictures, Please from serenity johnson on Vimeo.
The sour.

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